Bento to heart of korea: bulgogi set

how many colours can you pack into a bento?

as many as the colours of the rainbow, and beyond that more, if the heart is permitting. of this bulgogi set, it took 2 nights for completion. one night for marination and chopping of ingredients, the next night for the cooking and assembly of the bento.

and here you have it, the recipe for the bulgogi modified from what i got from kitchen wrench's blog!

Ingredients (i used 850g sliced beef pack from korean supermarket):

850g thinly sliced beef sirloin (sliced to about 2-3mm thick) *

5 cloves garlic, crushed (use the flat part of knife to smash it!!!)

1 medium-sized brown onion, peeled

1 nashi/Asian pear, peeled

1 sweet apple, such as fuji, grated

2/3 cup light soy sauce

2 tbsp toasted sesame seed oil

2-4 tbsp caster sugar (this will depend on the sweetness of your pear)

2 spring onions, washed and finely sliced (i omitted)

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

1. Use your hands to squeeze the juice from the apple over the sliced beef and set aside.

2.Using an extremely fine grater, turn the onion and pear into pulp then mix together with the soy sauce and crushed garlic, then taste for sweetness.

3.If it’s not quite sweet enough for your tastes, add all the sugar, but if it’s close, just add 1-2 tbsp of sugar, mix and taste again.

4. Add the sliced meat to the bowl, then pour the marinade over the top, then add the sesame seed oil, sliced spring onion and cracked pepper and massage all the marinade into the meat for about 1-2 minutes, making sure none of the slices of beef are stuck together and that the marinade has been distributed evenly throughout.

5. Pour into an airtight container and store in the fridge for at least a few hours, ideally overnight, and cook over a griddle or in an unoiled non-stick frying pan.

6. Add on veggies of your choice! For me, i added sliced green and red capsicum, enoki mushroom, butter lettuce (sliced), thinly sliced onions, julienned carrot and zucchini strips. Cook these veggies in the meat juices that come out from cooking your bulgogi beef. It's really YUM!

5. For bento decoration, i also added star-shaped and heart-shaped japanese omelette and cherry tomatoes:)

6. Lastly, for your own pleasure of a slight spicy kick, add in a tablespoon of samjaang (korean hot pepper plus soy bean paste) mixed with 2 tsp of honey!

ALL DONE!

much love,
granny bear